What does it mean that Paul was 'born out of due time'?
Paul called himself “born out of due time” meaning he was saved prematurely, like a preemie, before Israel’s national salvation due at Christ’s Second Coming. His Damascus Road conversion prefigured Israel’s future remnant salvation, when they will see their resurrected Messiah and believe in a moment.
Les explains that God’s timetable places the birth of the nation of Israel at the end of the Tribulation, at the Second Coming of Christ. Paul, however, was already saved 2,000 years earlier. So Paul says he is like a preemie, delivered prematurely—one born before the due date of Israel’s salvation. Les admits the 2,000-year stretch is hard to imagine, but the concept is that just as Paul was saved in a moment on the road to Damascus, miraculously, so the nation of Israel will yet be saved—not all, but the remnant. They too will experience that same resurrection power; they will see their resurrected Lord, Messiah, and King coming in the clouds of glory and believe in a moment. That is what Paul means by being born out of, or before, the due time.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
More Questions
Why does Paul describe himself as one born out of due time?
Paul was saved about 2,000 years before Israel's national salvation, so he describes himself as one born prematurely, before the due date of the salvation of the nation of Israel.
Why does Paul describe his seeing the risen Lord as a birth before the due date?
Paul uses the due-date picture to illustrate that he experienced resurrection power and saw the Lord in resurrection as a Jew born before the due date — a premature birth relative to the delivery of the offspring.